Housing Authority Opens Lynfield Units

The Bethlehem Housing Authority (BHA) today will open the doors to some of the units in the Lynfield housing project.

Thomas Gori, deputy executive director for the BHA, said yesterday that 13 of the 100 units are expected to be occupied by persons on an authority waiting list.

BHA officials had hoped to have the project ready by last Jan. 1, but construction delays prevented that.

The second - and last - phaseof Lynfield includes two-, three- and four- bedroom units. The first phase, fully occupied, has two- and three-bedroom apartments. The project is on the former site of South Terrace.

Gori could not say when all 100 units will be ready for occupancy.

He said the 13 units to be occupied first are those with "minor" work remaining, such as "touch-up painting" in their interiors.

The remaining work "isn't enough to make the units uninhabitable," Gori added.

Apart from "normal" delays because of to bad weather and late-arriving construction material, Gori blamed the delay in opening Lynfield on "the inability of the contractor to coordinate work in a proper manner."

In some cases, walls were painted before being plastered, requiring repainting, he said.

The work is being done by Lanark Construction of Coopersburg. Officials of the company could not be reached yesterday.

The company reportedly blames the delay on vandalism and the process of obtaining required permits from the city.

About vandalism at the project, Gori said the contractor is required to provide security at the site, something which he said has only recently been done.

Authority officials, who have been withholding $330,000 from Lanark pending completion of the project, estimate the delay has resulted in the BHA losing $20,000 a month in rentals. Gori said he did not know whether the BHA will ever recover that money.